The woman who police say was raped by a Sigma Nu member was victimized inside of her dorm on the University of Central Florida campus, according to a source close to the investigation.
It is unclear exactly what happened inside the fraternity house, due to the heavy redactions UCF chose to make in the police report. However, the report does make clear the victim was found “naked from the waist down in the bathroom while at the Sigma Nu fraternity house.”
After reading the police report, the source close to the investigation confirmed to Knight News that the redacted information in the report makes it very difficult for the media to understand what actually happened, and that blacking out words like “her” make all the difference.
For example, many media outlets reported the police report stated the alleged victim woke up “in a lot of pain and very sore” at the fraternity house, and it was at the fraternity house where she found an open condom wrapper and a condom on the ground. However, that portion of the police report was referring to her residence and not the fraternity house, according to the source.
The confusion comes because UCF chose to black out a small word that could have been “her” or “the” before the word “residence.”
“(UCF dorm) video surveillance was seized by UCFPD, as well as both parties phone records,” the source told Knight News.
Uncovering the Truth
Back in July, the public only knew that Sigma Nu was under investigation for an underage drinking allegation, when Knight News broke that story.
After getting a viewer tip there was much more to the story, Knight News asked UCF on July 6 whether Sigma Nu was under investigation for “some sort of sexual misconduct.”
A UCF spokeswoman responded and simply said, “Sigma Nu is not currently under organizational review by UCF.” Three months earlier, UCFPD had already turned the rape case, involving a suspect in Sigma Nu, over to the State Attorney’s Office.
Knight News then responded to UCF and said, “How about any of its members? I think it is important that the public knows the whole story here.”
The spokeswoman quickly responded and said, “Individual student conduct cases are protected under FERPA.” FERPA is a student privacy law protecting student education records.
Knight News responded and made it clear that we were “not asking for a name. We’re asking if you’re investigating a rape. Isn’t that required to be disclosed under the (Clery Act)?”
Knight News did not receive an immediate response.
Later that night, the source sent Knight News the name of a suspect, along with UCF conduct board documents finding the suspect in violation of sexual misconduct. Knight News then made a public records request to UCFPD for the police records in the separate police case. Police records are not protected by FERPA.
After some follow up emails, on July 7, UCFPD denied the public records request but confirmed it had turned the case over to the State Attorney’s Office back in April.
Knight News had to remind UCF that the incident report could not be withheld under Florida law, and that at least a redacted version of the report needed to be released.
Two days later, UCF released the redacted incident report.
At 11:07 a.m. on July 9, the same day that Knight News received the police incident report, UCF received a student conduct incident report accusing Sigma Nu of sexual misconduct by chanting rape in a video.
The general public and the student body had no idea that UCF had received a copy of a video that allegedly showed at least one Sigma Nu member screaming rape chants until the Orlando Sentinel broke the story on August 14 that the fraternity was placed on emergency suspension.
Since then, the Orlando Sentinel reported that one of the Sigma Nu members who was chanting rape in the video is the same suspect connected to the individual rape allegation that occurred back in October. A source close to the investigation told Knight News the same information.
The State Attorney has not filed criminal charges against the suspect. UCF’s student conduct board, however, found him in violation of sexual misconduct, according to UCF records obtained by Knight News.
UCF to Hold Secret Hearing and Deny Public Access
The Sigma Nu fraternity is scheduled to have its student conduct hearing tomorrow morning.
UCF confirmed with Knight News Wednesday afternoon that the hearing will be closed to the public. UCF denied Knight News access to the hearing even if Knight News agreed “not to disclose information UCF believes is protected by FERPA.”
Knight News also made it clear in the request to attend the hearing that the Sigma Nu national office did not object to Knight News being at the hearing “so we could report both sides fully, fairly and accurately” to the public.
When asked on August 18, Fred Dobry, Director of Risk Reduction for the national fraternity, said, “That is not our decision to make. The University code of conduct stipulates these hearings are not open to the public.”
Other universities like Florida State and The University of Florida allow the public to access the hearings if those involved in the hearings do not object to the meeting being open, according to a 2013 Knight News investigation.
Knight News sued UCF’s Board of Trustees and UCF President John C. Hitt in order to allow the public to have a chance to monitor what goes on in these secret hearings just like they are allowed to monitor public court cases.
“The behavior of fraternities is a matter of enormous public interest and concern,” according to a friend of the court brief in support of Knight News in the lawsuit by The Student Press Law Center, Florida’s First Amendment Foundation, The Florida Press Association, representing several Florida newspapers, a TV station and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
UCF has argued the law doesn’t require the hearings be open because they claim fraternity conduct records are private education records. Lawyers for the First Amendment groups supporting Knight News disagree.
“The notion that these records are ‘none of the public’s business’ is an image-motivated concoction by UCF. It has no basis in reality,” according to the brief.
The litigation of Knight News vs. UCF is still ongoing in the Fifth District Court of Appeal, after a trial court judge refused to make UCF open the hearings to the public.
